Optical device including pinhole array aperture and related methods

ABSTRACT

An optical device may include a pinhole array layer having pinhole array apertures therein. The pinhole array layer may have a first side to be directed toward incoming electromagnetic (E/M) radiation, and a second side opposite the first side. The optical device may also include image sensors. Each image sensor may include image sensing pixels adjacent the second side of the pinhole array layer. The optical device may also include mirrors. Each mirror may be associated with a respective image sensor and respective pinhole array aperture defining a camera. Each mirror may reflect incoming E/M radiation passing through the respective pinhole array aperture to the respective image sensor. A respective baffle may be between adjacent cameras.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of optical devices, and more particularly, to optical image sensing and related methods.

BACKGROUND

A telescope is one device for acquiring images. A telescope may be terrestrial based or space based. A telescope may include an image sensor, for example, an optical image sensor, which in conjunction with one or more lenses, is typically used to sense desired images from incoming electromagnetic (E/M) radiation. The lenses may direct light or E/M radiation to the image sensor where image processing may occur.

To achieve desired image resolution and/or magnification, a telescope may include relatively large optics, for example, lenses or arrays of lenses and relatively large housings or support structures. Precision thermal control may also be desired with such telescopes. Relatively large optics and support structures along with thermal controls may be undesirable for certain applications.

SUMMARY

An optical device may include a pinhole array layer having a plurality of pinhole array apertures therein. The pinhole array layer may have a first side to be directed toward incoming electromagnetic (E/M) radiation, and a second side opposite the first side. The optical device may also include a plurality of image sensors. Each image sensor may include a plurality of image sensing pixels adjacent to the second side of the pinhole array layer. The optical device may also include a plurality of mirrors, and each mirror may be associated with a respective image sensor and respective pinhole array aperture defining a camera. Each mirror may reflect incoming E/M radiation passing through the respective pinhole array aperture to the respective image sensor. A respective opaque baffle may be between adjacent cameras.

Each pinhole array aperture may have a controllable size. The optical device may also include a controller coupled to the pinhole array layer to control a size of at least one pinhole array aperture.

The pinhole array layer may include a plurality of piezoelectric material layers in stacked relation, for example. At least one mirror may have a controllable shape. The optical device may also include a controller coupled to each the at least one mirror to control a shape thereof. The at least one mirror may include a deformable micro mirror, for example.

Each image sensor may include an integrated circuit image sensor. The optical device may further include a respective spiral phase plate aligned with each pinhole array aperture, for example.

The optical device may further include image processing circuitry coupled to the plurality of image sensors and configured to generate an image from the incoming E/M radiation. Each image sensing pixel may be responsive to at least one of visible light, ultraviolet (UV) light, and near infrared (NIR) light, for example.

A method aspect is directed to a method of making an optical device. The method may include coupling a plurality of image sensors adjacent to a pinhole array layer having a plurality of pinhole array apertures therein so that each of the plurality of image sensors is aligned with a respective pinhole array aperture. The method may also include mounting a plurality of mirrors so that each mirror is associated with a respective image sensor and respective pinhole array aperture defining a camera and so that each mirror reflects incoming E/M radiation passing through the respective pinhole array aperture to the respective image sensor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an optical device in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of an optical device in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic top view of a pinhole array layer in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic side view of a portion of an optical device including the pinhole array layer of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an optical device in accordance with another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout, and prime notation is used to indicate similar elements in alternative embodiments.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1-2, an optical device 20, which may be in the form of a telescope, includes a pinhole array layer 30. The pinhole array layer 30 has pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n therein. Each of the pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n may have a size in a range of 5-50 microns, for example. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the size of each pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n corresponds to image resolution. For example, the smaller the size of the pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n, the higher the image resolution. The pinhole array layer 30 has a first side 32 to be directed toward incoming electromagnetic (E/M) radiation, and a second side 37 opposite the first side.

Referring additionally to FIGS. 3 and 4, each pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n may have a controllable size, for example, electrically as described below, or mechanically by applying a pressure or stress/strain. More particularly, the pinhole array layer 30 may include piezoelectric material layers 34 a, 34 b in stacked relation, and each having their own respective pinhole apertures 36 a, 36 b. A controller 38 coupled to pinhole array layer 30 (FIG. 2), or more particularly, the piezoelectric material layers 36 a, 36 b (FIG. 4), controls the size of each pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n. Application of a voltage to piezoelectric material layers 34 a, 34 b by way of the controller 38 causes a change in the size of the pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n (FIG. 2), 36 a, 36 b (FIGS. 3 and 4). The controller 38 may change the aperture sizes based upon environmental input and/or a desired resolution, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. While two piezoelectric material layers 34 a, 34 b are illustrated, there may be any number of piezoelectric layers. The piezoelectric material layers 34 a, 34 b may be arranged so that the pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n (FIG. 2), 36 a, 36 b (FIG. 4), which may each have an oblong shape, of a given piezoelectric material layer are transverse to the pinhole array apertures in an adjacent piezoelectric material layer, which may result in an effective pinhole array aperture that is nearly round in shape. The piezoelectric materials of the piezoelectric material layers 34 a, 34 b may shape the ray bundles (i.e., light) that exit each effective pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n with a spatial profile that may be more circular than the oblong shape of each of the pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n, for example. In some embodiments, one, more than one, or all of the pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n may not be controllable or have an adjustable size.

The optical device 20 also includes image sensors 40 a-40 n. Each image sensor 40 a-40 n may be an integrated circuit image sensor, for example, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor.

Each image sensor 40 a-40 n includes image sensing pixels 41 a-41 n adjacent the second side 37 of the pinhole array layer 30. Each image sensing pixel 41 a-41 n may be responsive to at least one of visible light, ultraviolet (UV) light, and near infrared (NIR) light, for example. For example, the image sensors 40 a-40 n may each have 12 megapixels and include a filter for color (e.g., a Bayer filter). In some embodiments, each image sensor 40 a-40 n may include a polarizing filter. A given polarizing filter may have a same polarization as an adjacent polarizing filter. Of course, a given polarizing filter may have a different polarization as an adjacent polarizing filter. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the polarization filters may be incorporated into the image sensors 40 a-40 n at a pixel level.

Each image sensor 40 a-40 n may also have an image sensor aperture 42 a-42 n therein (e.g. through a non-active area) and aligned with a respective pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n. In some embodiments, each image sensor 40 a-40 n may not include an image sensor aperture 42 a-42 n. For example, each image sensor 40 a-40 n may be positioned or tiled around the pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n.

The optical device 20 also includes mirrors 50 a-50 n. The mirrors 50 a-50 n may be mounted on a substrate, for example, about 10 cm from respective image sensors 40 a-40 n. Each mirror 50 a-50 n is associated with a respective image sensor 40 a-40 n and aligned with a respective pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n to reflect incoming E/M radiation passing through the respective pinhole array aperture and image sensor aperture 42 a-42 n to the respective image sensor.

Each mirror 50 a-50 n may have a controllable shape, for example, the curvature of the mirror (e.g., radius) may be changeable or controllable. The shape of each mirror 50 a-50 n may be controlled electrically or mechanically, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. More particularly, the controller 38 may also be coupled to each mirror 50 a-50 n and control the shape thereof. While a single controller 38 is described as controlling the shape of each mirror 50 a-50 n and the size of each pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n, there may be more than one controller performing respective functions (e.g., individual control circuitry). Each mirror 50 a-50 n may include or be in the form of a deformable micro mirror or a liquid crystal film mirror. Of course, the mirrors 50 a-50 n may include additional and/or different types of mirrors, for example, an electrostatic actuator, a piezo-deformable micro-mirror, and/or a liquid lens with a reflective (e.g., silvered) surface. In some embodiments, one, more than one, or all of the mirrors 50 a-50 n may not be controllable or have an adjustable shape.

Each mirror 50 a-50 n and associated image sensor 40 a-40 n and pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n defines a camera 70 a-70 n. A respective opaque baffle 71 a-71 n is between adjacent cameras 70 a-70 n. The opaque baffles 71 a-71 n reduce or block E/M radiation (e.g., undesirable scattered E/M radiation) to increase, for example, maximize, the signal to noise ratio on the image sensors 40 a-40 n (i.e., reduce cross-talk between image sensors).

During operation, E/M light passes through each pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n to a respective mirror 50 a-50 n. The E/M light is reflected from each mirror upwardly to the second side 37 of the pinhole array layer 30 and is received by the corresponding image sensing pixels 41 a-41 n. The light passes through from outside the optical image device 20 to the image sensors 40 a-40 n without going through a lens. Moreover, a baffle 71 a-71 n between each of the single pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n and its corresponding mirror 50 a-50 n and image sensor 40 a-40 n may result in little or no light bleeding between adjacent cameras 70 a-70 n. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that, based upon changing of the pinhole array aperture sizes and mirror shapes, the field of view (and thus resolution) and the radius of curvature (and thus magnification) may change, respectively. The 1-to-1 correspondence of image sensors 40 a-40 n to pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n may be particularly advantageous for generating increased resolution sensed images, for example, based upon computational processing.

Image processing circuitry 60 is coupled to the image sensors 40 a-40 n. The image processing circuitry 60 generates a composite image from the incoming E/M radiation. More particularly, where the optical device 20 is in the form of a telescope, the image processing circuitry 60 generates a magnified composite image from the incoming E/M radiation. Of course, the optical device 20 may be implemented as or within another type of device, for example, a terrestrial camera.

For example, the image processing circuitry 60 may control the electronic spatial integrations at each or multiple image sensors 40 a-40 n (e.g., simultaneously) to achieve electronic magnification to generate denser or sparser imagery from the incoming E/M radiation. Alternatively, or additionally, optical magnification may be achieved by changing the radius of curvature of the mirrors 50 a-50 n.

In an embodiment, the photon sensitivity of each of the image sensors 40 a-40 n may be adjustable, for example, on a per-pixel basis. The photon sensitivity of each image sensor 40 a-40 n may be adjusted on a per camera basis. The photon sensitivity of a given image sensor 40 a-40 n may be adjusted differently than other image sensors. The ability to adjust the photon sensitivity may improve resolution and signal-to-noise within a scene, for example, for use in computational imaging algorithms, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

In some embodiments, with respect to operation of the optical device 20, one or more of the image sensors 40 a-40 n may be operated in a binned mode with macro pixels (i.e., not native pixel resolution) to increase, for example, the signal level at each macro pixel. This may enable adjustable resolution with increased signal-to-noise ratio. In an embodiment, the size of the pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n may be varied to adjust image resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. In another embodiment, all the image sensing pixels 41 a-41 n associated with a single image sensor 40 a-40 n may be binned into a single image sensing pixel. By binning the image sensing pixels 41 a-41 n into a single image sensing pixel, imaging with all the cameras 70 a-70 n (i.e., the whole array) may provide the pixelated image with each camera contributing to the image intensity for each image sensing pixel in the image. This may enable imaging of relatively large areas at relatively long or extreme distances, for example, at or greater than 1000 km.

Referring now briefly to FIG. 5, in an embodiment, the optical device 20′ may include a respective phase plate 61 a′-61 n′ adjacent or aligned at the entry of each pinhole array aperture 31 a′-31 n′. The phase plates 61 a′-61 n′, for example, the type of phase plates, may be used based upon the desired implementation (e.g., desired sensed light characteristics) of the optical device 20′. For example, the phase plates 61 a′-61 n′ may have a spiral shape. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, when incoming E/M radiation of interest, has orbital angular momentum (OAM), the spiral phase plates 61 a′-61 n′ at the entry of each camera 70 a′-70 n′ may be used to spatially reject the non-OAM light at the detector focal plane since such light is not spatially coherent with the spiral phase patterns of the incoming E/M radiation of interest. Elements illustrated with respect to the present embodiment, but not specifically described are similar to those described above with respect to FIGS. 1-4.

As a telescope, the optical device 20 may advantageously monitor satellites for space situational awareness. The optical device 20 may provide a relatively low size, weight, power and cooling alternative to other types of optical telescopes, for example, 3-5 meter diameter telescopes, which include relatively large optics, relatively large supporting structures, and increased or relatively high precision thermal controls. Indeed, the optical device 20 may provide increased resolution, compressed data resulting in relatively fast and secure data transfer, and infinite depth of field, while maintaining a manageable bandwidth. In other words, the optical device 20 may exploit the sparsity of a scene to achieve an improved compression ratio (at the image formation stage) to maintain the manageable bandwidth.

A method aspect is directed to a method of making an optical device 20. The method includes coupling image sensors 40 a-40 n adjacent a pinhole array layer 30 having pinhole array apertures 31 a-31 n therein so that an image sensor aperture 42 a-42 n of each of the image sensors is aligned with a respective pinhole array aperture. The method also includes mounting mirrors 50 a-50 n so that each mirror is associated with a respective image sensor 40 a-40 n defining a camera 70 a-70 n and aligned with a respective pinhole array aperture 31 a-31 n to reflect incoming E/M radiation passing through the respective pinhole array aperture toward the respective image sensor.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to the mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. 

That which is claimed is:
 1. An optical device comprising: a pinhole array layer having a plurality of pinhole array apertures therein, the pinhole array layer having a first side to be directed toward incoming electromagnetic (E/M) radiation, and a second side opposite the first side; a plurality of image sensors adjacent the second side of the pinhole array layer; and a plurality of mirrors, each mirror associated with a respective image sensor and respective pinhole array aperture defining a camera, and each mirror to reflect incoming E/M radiation passing through the respective pinhole array aperture to the respective image sensor.
 2. The optical device of claim 1 wherein each pinhole array aperture has a controllable size.
 3. The optical device of claim 2 comprising a controller coupled to the pinhole array layer to control a size of at least one pinhole array aperture.
 4. The optical device of claim 2 wherein the pinhole array layer comprises a plurality of piezoelectric material layers in stacked relation.
 5. The optical device of claim 1 wherein at least one mirror has a controllable shape.
 6. The optical device of claim 5 comprising a controller coupled to the at least one mirror to control a shape thereof.
 7. The optical device of claim 5 wherein the at least one mirror comprises a deformable micro mirror.
 8. The optical device of claim 1 wherein each image sensor comprises an integrated circuit image sensor.
 9. The optical device of claim 1 comprising a respective spiral phase plate aligned with each pinhole array aperture.
 10. The optical device of claim 1 comprising image processing circuitry coupled to the plurality of image sensors and configured to generate an image from the incoming E/M radiation.
 11. The optical device of claim 1 wherein each image sensor is responsive to at least one of visible light, ultraviolet (UV) light, and near infrared (NIR) light.
 12. A space telescope device comprising: a pinhole array layer having a diameter of at least three meters and a plurality of pinhole array apertures therein, the pinhole array layer having a first side to be directed toward incoming electromagnetic (E/M) radiation from space, and a second side opposite the first side; a plurality of image sensors adjacent the second side of the pinhole array layer; and a plurality of mirrors, each mirror associated with a respective image sensor and respective pinhole array aperture defining a camera, and each mirror to reflect incoming E/M radiation from space passing through the respective pinhole array aperture to the respective image sensor.
 13. The space telescope of claim 12 wherein each pinhole array aperture has a controllable size.
 14. The space telescope of claim 13 comprising a controller coupled to the pinhole array layer to control a size of at least one pinhole array aperture.
 15. The space telescope of claim 13 wherein the pinhole array layer comprises a plurality of piezoelectric material layers in stacked relation.
 16. The space telescope of claim 12 wherein at least one mirror has a controllable shape.
 17. The space telescope of claim 12 wherein each image sensor comprises an integrated circuit image sensor.
 18. The space telescope of claim 12 further comprising a respective spiral phase plate aligned with each pinhole array aperture.
 19. A method of making an optical device comprising: mounting a plurality of image sensors adjacent a pinhole array layer having a plurality of pinhole array apertures therein; and mounting a plurality of mirrors so that each mirror is associated with a respective image sensor and respective pinhole array aperture defining a camera and so that each mirror reflects incoming E/M radiation passing through the respective pinhole array aperture to the respective image sensor.
 20. The method of claim 19 wherein at least one pinhole array aperture has a controllable size, and comprising coupling a controller to the pinhole array layer.
 21. The method of claim 20 wherein the pinhole array layer comprises a plurality of piezoelectric material layers in stacked relation.
 22. The method of claim 19 wherein at least one mirror has a controllable shape, and comprising coupling a controller to that at least one mirror.
 23. The method of claim 22 wherein the at least one mirror comprises a deformable micro mirror. 